Speak to most people about vitamins and minerals, and they'll immediately conjure up an image of a bottle of tables! Believe it or not, you can find these dietary essentials in other forms too. Without going near meat.

If you live in a city, there's high chance that the food you buy isn't 100% fresh. Much of its nutritional value will have dissappeared before you even cook it. If that's the case for you, then vitamin and mineral supplements are essential to your diet. While you're here on Samui though, there's no excuse for unhealthy eating, and no need to keep popping pills! All the best restaurants have the freshest of fruit & vegetables (plus fish and meats). And you'll find they usually freshly squeeze the fruit for drinks too.

Although there are only a few restaurants that actually specialise in vegetarian food, most have a section of their menu dedicated to non-meat eaters.

But, why go vegetarian? Well, apart form the obvious moral issues regarding the creatures eaten, a commonly-held theory argues that the consumption of animal flesh isn't part of a human being's design. Everything - from the shape of our teeth, to the length of our colons - heavily suggests that we have closer similarities to the planet's herbivores, than to its carnivores.

“...but while you’re here on Samui though, there’s no excuse for unhealthy eating!”

The connection between man's longevity and meat eating, has some extreme examples. Races such as the Eskimos, Greenlanders and Laplanders (whose diets are predominantly meat) have an average life-expectancy of 40 years. Conversely, tribes in the North of India and Pakistan (who eat whole grains, fresh fruit, vegetables and goat's milk) often live on well into their 100's. It's also pointed out that there's a strong link heart disease and those who have a high cholesterol-level, due to fatty meat eating.

The old belief that meat is the only source of protein is no longer valid. For many years now, scientists have known that a balanced vegetarian diet satisfies all of the body's nutritional requirements.

So, while you're here, make a break from your usual meaty favourites one night, and try a vegetarian dish. It might pleasantly surprise you. Things are a lot tastier now than the 'rabbit food' offered to vegetarians a few years ago!